Posted
by
kdawsonon Tuesday March 03, 2009 @06:24PM
from the new-life dept.

darthcamaro and several other readers have noted that the Linux Foundation has bought Linux.com from SourceForge Inc. (Slashdot's corporate parent). The Linux Foundation (employer of Linus Torvalds) will take over the editorial and community stewardship for the site; SourceForge will continue to supply advertising on it. "[Linux Foundation Executive Director Jim] Zemlin says the Linux Foundation wants to build a collaborative forum where Linux users can share ideas and get information on the Linux operating system. A beta of the site will be released in the next few months. ... Linux.com is being redesigned as a central source for Linux software, documentation and answers regardless of platforms, including server, desktop/netbook, mobile and embedded areas." What do you think should be on Linux.com?

A centralized source of Linux info would be GREAT! Especially if it had a search function that pointed you to a good complete answer to inexpertly phrased questions. Right now, pointing newbies at Google is one of the big linux turnoffs for them.

Most of us experienced users know where to find good help and info so I think they should make linux.com primarily a site for beginners. It would include a broad overview, tutorials, howtos, information about distros and a lot of zealous pro-linux content to spread the love. linux.com is the obvious domain name for someone looking to learn about linux.
Notice I say primarily for beginners and not totally. It should of course contain more detailed information.

One thing I would like is for it to be a clear and professional page that invites and excites people to learn more about Linux.

What I mean is this: Right now if you google "Linux" [google.com], the first hit is linux.org [linux.org]. That site has some good info, and even has an explanatory paragraph about what Linux is... but (how to put this nicely?) it doesn't look professional. It doesn't scream "this is a sophisticated and powerful (yet user-friendly) system supported by (and supporting) billion-dollar industries." Instead the impression a first-time visitor will get is that Linux is arcane, old-fashioned, and disorganized.

The fact is that when any of us talk to others about Linux (whether as a home desktop or for business-use), the person will go and search "Linux" and end up being confused. So I would like "linux.com" to have a really carefully designed frontpage, that explains what Linux is, looks very professional (maybe with tie-ins to big-name companies to make the suits feel more comfortable), and helps people get what they need (links to downloads, FAQ, community sites, all that good stuff...).

The Ubuntu homepage [ubuntu.com] is pretty good in this regard. I'm sure I'm not alone in having switched over the last few years from telling people to "read more about Linux" to telling them to "read up on Ubuntu". It's just easier to pick a distro for them (they can always change when they learn more), and Ubuntu has put a nice "face" on the Linux ecosystem. Their homepage doesn't overload you with info, and provides clear links to downloads, community, etc.

So while I hope linux.com becomes many things to many people (and has all the news and content that we geeks want), I hope they take this opportunity to make the mainpage a useful portal for people who want to learn more about Linux. (Since it will be an obvious place for a newbie to first look.)

What about a hardware store? showing off and linking to the latest Linux hardware deployments and Linux supported hardware?

Also:*news & articles (like the old linux.com, not just newsvac) covering the kernel, server & desktop developments*NOT a major forum (there are plenty another just spreads the chance of you coming across somebody knowledgeable enough to fix your problem thinner)*PERHAPS: A wiki (that is mainly based around merging the less distro specific stuff from gentoo,arch & other wikis)*A parody of getthefacts that just plain laughs at microsoft.

The one-stop, easy-install, multi-distro place for all your linux software needs.

Actually not a bad idea. It could also be handy to list all current distros and be a starting point for stuff for different people wanting to participate in the Linux experience, with starting points for end users, developers and managers.

The best function that linux.com could serve is as a portal into Linux resources and the entire Linux community. But it has to be organized in such a way as to make Linux adoption as easy and painless as possible. There's no conflict between that and all the other capabilities we might like the site to have.